Symposium Clinician Profile: Tobias Nubbemeyer

Note: This is the fourth in a five part series highlighting the clinicians who will present at this summer’s NorCal Premier Soccer Coaching Symposium. Coaches can sign up for the event, which takes place June 7-9 at the Oakland Roots training facility, by clicking here.

While many of NorCal Premier Soccer’s coaching education opportunities feature clinicians with decades of experience, NorCal would like to welcome one of the brightest young minds in European football to this summer’s world class Summer Coaching Symposium: U19 TSG Hoffenheim manager Tobias Nubbemeyer.

Nubbemeyer’s side are fresh off winning the U19 German Cup and are in contention for the league title.

The UEFA A License German national will arrive in Oakland with an established CV, having previously coached in the youth setups at RB Leipzig and Philadelphia Union.

Nubbemeyer’s core philosophies are similar to those currently used at the highest levels in German and other European soccer, focusing on pressing and dominating the transitional moments of the game.

“The opponent is the most disorganized when they lose the ball, so I put a lot of emphasis on hunting the ball and getting it back quickly,” Nubbemeyer said. “When we win the ball, we want to play forward, we want to move it really quickly so the opponent continues to be disorganized.”

“(For me) football is always about finding ways to play forward quickly.”

During a series of field sessions and lectures this summer, Nubbemeyer will demonstrate how to create the ideal environment to train these philosophies.

“It’s about intensity…how do you create intensity in training?” Nubbemeyer said. “When you coach the press, it will improve your team’s ball movement because you disorganize the opponent, but everything starts from working against the ball.”

For Nubbemeyer, however, coaching is more about philosophies just on the field, but also off of it.

“I’m a family guy, but that’s how I see the team: as a family, I have only two things in my life, my family and my team,” he said. “That’s what I look for and care for and how I bring my intensity and passion to the field.

“There are a lot of moving pieces (in football), but the most important piece is that I really look for players with a lot of character who look to hunt and sprint and to transition quickly,” Nubbemeyer said.